The Ice Age Landscape

These are the traces that the Geopark draws up and makes visible. The Geopark's basic story about the past is the story of the Weichsel Ice Age, which is the latest in a series of ice ages: The Weichsel Ice Age began around 115,000 years ago, when ice from the north spread south. Around 22,000 years before our era, the ice from both the north and the east reached the area that we today call Geopark Vestjylland.

Here, the advance of the ice from both the north and east was slowed by a warmer climate, which meant that the ice along a broad front melted as quickly as it was pushed forward. We know this front today as the main ice line. The main ice line stretched from Bovbjerg in the west to Karup Å in the east and is one of the most striking landscape elements in Denmark. While the ice rose to the north and east, the land was ice-free to the west and south.

The large amounts of meltwater from the ice edge created braided river courses and left behind large amounts of stone, gravel, sand and clay. The heaviest materials remained closest to the ice edge, the lighter materials washed further away. At that time, what is now Denmark was connected to what is now England. The ice-free area was cold and without much life other than low plants and heathland. All around the open landscape, the so-called hill islands from the previous ice age rose up. Around 20,000 years before our era, the ice began to retreat. New cold periods came, and the ice advanced again.

Retreats and advances over a few thousand years left traces that are evident in the landscape to this day. After a period of ice retreat, it had now become so warm that the ice completely disappeared around 11,000 years ago. Shrubs and trees appeared, and within a few thousand years the entire area was covered in dense and varied deciduous forest, which stretched all the way to England.

Around 9,000 years before our era, the first hunters and fishermen came to visit the area from the south. Partly to fish, partly to hunt mammoths, among other things. Due to the melting of the ice, the sea continued to rise and it was not until 5,000 years before our era that the North Sea was created with a coastline roughly as we know it today. However, the coast was several kilometers further west than today. At that time, the sea had risen by about 120 meters compared to the period during the ice age.

There are still fishermen in the North Sea who use aurochs horns in their nets. The Geopark conveys knowledge about the Ice Age and fascination with the enormous forces of nature, of which we still see clear traces today.